Nets CEO Brett Yormark has been saying since before the Nets finished playing New Jersey that the days of seeing Knicks fans turn Nets “home” games into MSG West were going to end once the Nets began play in Brooklyn this fall.

Yormark won’t have to wait to prove he’s right, as the NBA officially unveiled the schedule Thursday night, and the Nets will open the brand new Barclays Center against the Knicks at 8 p.m. on TNT.

“It’s no surprise that I’m a big advocate for a Nets-Knicks game opening night,” Yormark said Thursday in a phone interview. “I personally encouraged the league to go in that direction. And, from my point of view, we needed to open up this building, when it came to the Nets, in the most dramatic fashion possible, and what better matchup than the Nets vs. the Knicks at the Barclays Center, not only to open the building for pro basketball, but also to set the tone for what I think will be hopefully one of the greatest rivalries in pro sports.

“As far as I’m concerned, we needed to open this building and start our season with the biggest possible game, and Nets-Knicks to me is as big as it gets. I’m thrilled by it. I think the conversation has begun, and it’s gonna continue to opening night.”

Yormark scoffed at the idea that the Nets need time to build up their fan base after spending the past 35 years being overlooked across the Hudson before taking on the Knicks and their legions of fans in the area.

Instead, he pointed to the roughly 10,000 season tickets the team has already sold as a sign that the Nets are quickly becoming Brooklyn’s team.

“Trust me, those are Brooklyn Nets fans buying those seats,” Yormark said. “What happened in New Jersey, for how long it happened, for however long it happened, it’s in the past. That will not happen in Brooklyn.

“There isn’t a concern as far as I’m concerned as far as who might show up and the allegiances they might have. I’m a believer in Brooklyn, and I’m a believer that, on opening night, we’ll have a big-time Brooklyn Nets crowd in the building, and it will be a home court advantage for us.”

As for fans who are concerned about it, Yormark said he understands where they are coming from after dealing with it year after year in New Jersey. But he said that the fans he speaks to in Brooklyn don’t share those same concerns.

“The fans that are concerned are the fans that were part of us in New Jersey,” he said. “The season ticket holder in Brooklyn walks around town now with a bit of a swagger, feeling pretty good about being a Brooklyn Nets fan. I’m not sure they are concerned. I think it’s the people that experienced it in New Jersey that obviously didn’t like what they saw.

“But I can assure you it will be totally different, and the season ticket holder now from Brooklyn, and I speak to many of them, they think it’s terrific. They welcome it … they think it’s the only game to open this building, and as you know I fully subscribe to that.”

Now that the Nets-Knicks opener in Brooklyn is officially a reality, Yormark is looking forward to the three months of buildup to the first game of the season, and the chance to show that Brooklyn’s new team has already been adopted by its new home.

“Just think about it – this whole community is going to be talking about this game for three months,” he said. “It’s terrific. And you saw what happened at Borough Hall a couple weeks ago … it’s our time now. Right or wrong, it’s been a total transformative move to Brooklyn.

“It’s as if we’ve been here for the past 35 years. That’s how we’ve been embraced.”